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Some chapters of life arrive without permission.

In this episode of Your Next Success, Judy Pearson shares her story of resilience, reinvention, and what it means to keep moving forward when life does not go as planned.

Judy opens up about the chapters she never would have chosen, including divorce, cancer, and starting over, and how those experiences shaped her perspective, her writing, and the way she now serves others through the stories she tells.

This is a grounded, honest conversation about courage, second acts, and the truth that even life’s hardest moments can carry something forward.
If you’ve ever found yourself asking, “Now what?”—this episode will meet you there.

What You’ll Hear in This Episode:

• What resilience looks like in real life, not in theory
• How unexpected challenges reshape identity and direction
• The role of writing in processing and moving forward
• How perspective evolves through difficult seasons
• Why meaning can still emerge from life’s hardest chapters

Connect with Judy at https://judithlpearson.com/

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What if burnout is feedback?

Meggi Rombach has spent over 20 years leading teams and driving change across the private and humanitarian sectors, from Procter and Gamble to UNICEF and the ICRC. Constant high performance eventually led to burnout and health challenges that forced her to pause.

That pause reshaped her definition of success.

In this episode, Meggi shares how external validation can quietly drive leadership identity, how a formative teenage experience shaped her authority patterns, and how closure opened the door to a more sustainable way of leading.

Now she coaches leaders and teams through transitions with presence, depth, and courage.

You will hear

• How burnout can signal an identity shift
• The hidden cost of needing to feel seen
• Why marking endings matters in transition
• How small experiments create real movement
• What the Mindful Rebellion means in practice

Connect with Meggi: https://www.linkedin.com/in/meggie-Rombach

Learn more about Next Success:
https://www.nextsuccesscareers.com

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Subscribe to Your Next Success so you never miss an episode.

Watch full video episodes on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@NextSuccessMethod/

Learn more about Next Success www.nextsuccesscareers.com

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You can have a retirement plan that works on paper and still feel uneasy about what comes next.

In this episode of Your Next Success, Dr. Caroline Sangal talks with Chris Pollard, West Point graduate, U.S. Army veteran, and principal of Great Path Planning, about retirement planning beyond the spreadsheet.

Chris shares his personal story, including the early loss that shaped his awareness of time, the pressure and intensity of West Point and Iraq, and how those experiences inform the way he now helps families plan for retirement. With over 15 years guiding high-net-worth clients, Chris has seen that financial readiness doesn’t automatically bring peace.

This conversation explores why worry can linger even when the numbers check out, why spending often feels harder than saving, and how real retirement planning includes identity, purpose, relationships, and how you actually want to live your days.

What You’ll Hear

• Why retirement worry persists even with a solid plan
• Chris’s story: early loss, West Point, Iraq, and transition into financial planning
• The emotional side of spending after a lifetime of saving
• What it means to plan for time, structure, and meaning in retirement
• Why “enough” is not only a number

Great Path Planning:
https://www.greatpathfp.com

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Watch full video episodes on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@NextSuccessMethod/

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Growth changes direction.

In this episode of Your Next Success, Cecilia Zapata-Harms shares how nearly 30 years of leadership in life science and healthcare prepared her to build something new, something aligned with who she had become.

Cecilia is the Founder and Executive Director of Women, Life and Science, the community behind the annual Women, Life and Science Conference. She also supports early-stage innovators through Palmetto Innovasphere, helping strengthen the life science startup ecosystem.

This conversation explores:
• Recognizing growth-driven shifts
• Leading with expansion rather than preservation
• Shared success as a strategic leadership model
• Building ecosystems that support innovation
• Creating community with intention

Join us for the fabulous Women Life and Science conference and retreat on April 30, 2026 https://wlscience.com/wlscience-conference-2026

Women, Life and Science: wlscience.com
Palmetto Innovasphere: innovaspheresc.org

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Lin Wu fled China as a child during the Communist revolution, came to the U.S. at sixteen, and had to start over completely on his own—right down to working in a broom shop to afford school. He went on to study engineering, enter the computer industry, and help build some of the fastest computers of the era in the early days of Silicon Valley.

In this conversation, Lin shares the turning points that shaped his life: leaving everything behind at six, being dropped into America at sixteen with $600, navigating school and work, and building a career through focus, strategy, and persistence.

Lin’s memoir: Destination Silicon Valley: From Broom Shop to Supercomputer
https://www.amazon.com/Destination-Silicon-Valley-Broom-Supercomputer-ebook/dp/B0FVGF1BKR

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What happens when your life looks full — yet something inside you knows you’re meant for more?

In this episode, Dr. Caroline Sangal talks with author and global speaker Cortney McDermott, whose journey moves from a chaotic childhood in Chicago to London, France, Italy, corporate boardrooms, global stages, and ultimately, a profound internal awakening.

Cortney shares how achievement became a substitute for belonging, why success didn’t feel like success, and what shifted when she finally listened to her intuition.

You’ll hear:

• the inner signals that tell you you’re ready for a new chapter
• how crisis, curiosity, and intuition guided Cortney’s reinvention
• the moment she realized she was “miserably successful”
• why simplicity is often the most powerful form of truth
  
  

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Watch full video episodes on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@NextSuccessMethod/

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A full calendar can look like success. Sometimes it’s just a belief you absorbed early.

In this episode, Dr. Caroline Sangal is joined by Wes Towers, founder of Uplift 360, to talk about the definition of success he picked up as a kid: busy equals important, and how his perspective evolved into building real value, protecting time for family, and designing work around life.

We also talk about trust in a noisy world, the power of clear communication without jargon, why niching down works, and how Wes is using AI as an assistant to streamline operations while keeping human connection at the center.

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What happens when your career looks amazing on paper and your body keeps signaling strain?

In this episode, Caroline talks with Nataly Huff, executive coach and founder of Inspire Forward Coaching, about the hidden cost of high performance, the “professional face” many of us learn to wear, and the moment values make everything come into focus.

Nataly shares her journey from growing up in Russia during major political upheaval, to immigrating to the U.S., to building a high-growth career in marketing and leadership. You’ll hear how success can feel like a dream… until the culture shifts, the systems scale, and your values stop fitting inside the role. This conversation is about finding your way back to alignment, authenticity, and a path that supports both performance and peace.

In this episode, you’ll hear:

• Why high performance can coexist with chronic stress signals
• How values create clarity around what’s sustainable
• The difference between being respected for results and being known as a person
• What “the wrong ladder” really feels like from the inside
• How Nataly helps leaders grow with both neuroscience and heart

Support the show

Subscribe to Your Next Success so you never miss an episode.

Watch full video episodes on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@NextSuccessMethod/

Learn more about Next Success www.nextsuccesscareers.com